So the lack of innovation has as much to do with lack of investment as it does to do with a failure to recognize the changing markets or take the reins of the market and innovate something new themselves, even if it came at the expense of their core market. It didn’t help that it was a small part of a much larger company and it really never was in the main competency area of that larger company. They failed to plan for a future where a complicated remote to replace other complicated remotes will no longer be something enough people need to sustain the market. Harmony is probably falling victim to the innovator’s dilemma. My muscle memory is for the Roku so I often get the wrong button on Google unless I’m looking at it. My biggest problem with the Google Remote is it’s so close to but not exactly like the Roku remote. And the bulk it adds makes it harder to lose. Has there ever been a remote that didn’t look hideous? The looks of the Slideclick don’t bother us and having one remote we can do everything we do on a regular basis to the TV (namely setting an auto off timer) is more important than looks. It’s not perfect, but it’s very comfortable to hold and easy to use. Seriously though, I’ve been a bit surprised by how much I like the Google TV remote. As we are aware, using a remote control for home automation is too niche to create a market for these types of remotes. I guess the point I’m making is the main market for the harmonies, controlling complicated media center devices, is going away and being replaced with voice and much simpler control paradigms. Google TV’s remote is even svelter with a mere 13 buttons (not counting the two specific channel buttons) and Sideclick is available for it as well. And if you need more, a Sideclick will add 8 more programmable buttons (and make the remote easier to find, those little buggers get lost easily). You can do almost anything with a 15 button Roku remote (not counting the specific channel buttons at the bottom). Instead of five remotes with 50 buttons on them we had one remote with 50 buttons on it.īut with the rise of TV sound bars, the CEC, streaming devices with voice search, and the falling away of DVD/Blueray players and cable TV subscriptions there is just no need for 50+ buttons on a remote. This was back when I had four or five devices that all had to be independently controlled to work the TV (satellite receiver, stereo receiver, DVD player, HTPC, and so on). I used to have a couple of basic Harmony Remotes (I don’t even remember the model but they didn’t have an LCD screen). Hopefully a solution develops before that happens. Then, the only thing I’d really be losing is the Google Assistant integration (which I barely use due to the lag).ĮDIT: Actually, I guess we would also lose the integration with OH if the API disappears. I’d like to think that when they do shut down the servers, they’ll at least make it possible for people to program remotes manually. You can’t just cut off the service (or start charging for subscriptions) without people screaming bloody murder, so instead you stop selling the product and keep supporting it until the user base dwindles. So when you consider how small sales are relative to their other products, it kind of makes sense. That’s probably the same for the vast majority of Harmony Hub users. So, Logitech hasn’t generated any profit from me over eight years, even though I use the product at lease a few times a week. I bought my second one off of someone else who wasn’t using it. I bought my first Harmony Hub in 2013, and it’s still going strong. Guess what, it worked! Put it back together and it works great again.The problem with this particular business is that there’s really no money to be made. I was careful to avoid areas with plastic parts and figured what the heck, it was unusable. I decided to try to re-reflow it with my soldering station hot air gun. I took it apart and inspected it to find nothing obvious. My Harmony went on the fritz a while back and I noticed that it seemed related to physical movement of the remote. I very much like the remote (aside from how easy it is to accidentally activate the touch screen) and especially like the hard buttons that I can control without looking at the remote and also that it is not IR and I can hold the remote any direction in any location. I suppose if you have stopped watching anything but your phone or laptop maybe? I watch streaming exclusively (youtube tv, youtube, netflix) and use my Harmony Elite exclusively to control the TV/Stereo/Roku/Lighting. Not sure why streaming services makes a universal remote obsolete.
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